Abstract (in English)

The landscape of the environment we live in is an image of our
common humanity. The sense of place individuals and people as a
whole have is both a biological response to the surrounding physical
environment and a cultural creation. People get attached to places that
are critical to their well-being or cause them distress.
This paper sketches the story of ‘ Sahet Alqaryoun’ , a public open
space in a residential neighborhood in the historic city of Nablus,
West Bank. The question of how ‘Sahet Alqaryoun’ as an open public
space is appropriated by the various segments of the population, and
how this has been changing overtime is addressed here through
investigating various stakeholders and users of this place, starting from
individuals to the families living in this neighborhood or even the
municipality and professionals who are responsible for any future
intervention proposed for Sahet Alqaryoun. This paper will attempt to
explore the structure of such a shared place, how it is related to the
social meaning and also its cultural connotation as a place of collective
use that is perceived through representation and images produced by
its residents. It will also study the physical evolution and different
factors that shaped ‘Sahet Alqaryoun’ and demonstrate the
sustainability of this historic place through time, re-identifying it and
re-establishing it as an essential part of the social, socio-economic and
political fabric of the city.
This paper argues that urban spaces do present a public history. Our
responsibility as professionals in preserving our historic spaces is to try
to understand all factors that have played a role in shaping this space
and to try to recognize and respect the long social and cultural history
as successive stages of the city’s evolution.

VOLK L., 2005, “Lebanese heritage at Nahr al Kalb: From a Wall of Shame to a Wall of fame”, Paper submitted to the Seventh Mediterranean Social and Political Research meeting, Florence, Italy, Shuman Center for Advanced Studies at the European University.